On the first weekend of November, we were visited by Hurricane Noel. Although it had been downgraded to a post-tropical storm by the time it reached the Atlantic coast of Canada - it still packed a good punch, with wind gusts up to 140 km per hour.
The photos give you some idea of what washed up on Beach Meadows beach. The rocks and the sand were littered with Rainbow Trout, some of the estimated 500,000 that escaped when wind and waves destroyed a fish farm located near Coffin Island in Liverpool Bay. According to local reports, the sea cages broke loose from their moorings and were dashed to pieces on the rocky shore. In the days following the storm, people combed the beaches harvesting the dead and dying trout - some filled their freezers with them.
Although many were killed, the vast majority of the half million escapees are still at large. Rainbow Trout are not a native species in this province, but they have been successfully stocked as a recreational fishery in a few land-locked lakes. Rainbow Trout have also established spawning populations in several Cape Breton rivers as a result of escapement from aquaculture operations in the Bras d'Or Lakes. What are the odds of Rainbows showing up in river systems along Nova Scotia's South Shore next spring?
According to David Dagley, secretary of the local Fish and Game Association - not so good. He says,
"Rainbow Trout prefer water with a pH of 6.0. Here in Queens County, our rivers have been so adversely affected by acid rain that the pH is in the 4.5 to 5.0 range."Personally, I believe the escaped trout will wander into our rivers: they may even spawn in them. Whether the eggs will hatch and the fry will develop normally in our acidic waters, only time will tell. Fishing season re-opens on April 1st, 2008.
Good Luck and Good Fishin'!
-Random Phrump
Photos by Robyn Bertling.
